Hottub Cowboy

He looks rather dodgy and I would hate to be alone in a First Class cabin with him.

kokonutz

Scottrick

Basically, The Points Guy is willing to pay for very loose targeting rules. Unless you want to move out of the country and unfriend all the people you know, you're going to get targeted.

Astrophsx

Looks like the budget for TPG YouTube videos is only for TPGtv.

TPGtv videos are usually ~100k+ views (within the first few days of release, then the views drop to almost nothing)

TPG regular videos are typically below 5-10k views.

They are apparently gearing up for season 2 of TPGtv featuring Singapore Suites and Hyatt products in Japan.

Adam1222

Wow.
I never thought I'd see it, but the North Korea post today is actually interesting, substantive, and not selling anything really. Sure, it's a summary of another publication's article, but I actually hadnt seen it on 10 other blogs yet.

Astrophsx

The trip is being covered by a lot of media outlets. The one thing that is never disclosed is if he paid anything for his trip. He said he had to get a new laptop and what not for the trip as well.

Louis travels the world but IMO does very little research beforehand of the cities he visits. He recently went to Peru on a paid visit with Contiki Tours and the impression I get is that he's more about going along for the ride and meeting people on the way. He's more of a live for the moment type of personality.

So when he touches down in North Korea I think he knew a bit about the country, but he was there with the "just go with the flow" type of mind frame. This is really not too far off from what I see out of Brian Kelly's trips.

The problem with Louis is that he is trying to tell people he is there to make a difference, improve relations, and connect with people from the country. I think it was Vouge that pointed out that North Korea is very strict on what they let you film and they probably consider someone like Louis media... So I get the impression that the travel company gave the government a heads up and that the travel company picked up the bill for his visit (maybe the government compensated the travel company?). It also seems like a stretch that the government would allow a tour guide to be part of a music video. So there was either some type of permission given by the government or the tour guide could be in for some trouble.

I think it would have been nice in the article if they talked about the tourist who was caught stealing a poster at the hotel in North Korea.

gpapadop

Stop it, you are going to make me look now...

josephstern

So no word from The P[..] Guy on what time the Reserve will be opened up for apps?

gpapadop

Amazingly they also don't have any information whether 5/24 applies. The subsidiary of Chase Bank that chose this site to announce the card. Yeah, riiiiiight!

Troopers

1.21M FB likes and probably many more coming with the CSR.

ETA: disappointing that TPG hasn't mentioned CSR is available today.

sbm12

RTC somewhat called him out on it.

Astrophsx

Is TPG the only blogger with a CSR referral link? It looks like a referral link at least.

gpapadop

I think the only ones left with DIRECT Chase Bank credit card links are:

TPG
MMS
FTG
VFTW

Please correct me if I am wrong.

The only one who never posted the PUBLIC (no commission) link to the CSR was TPG. I have no idea about FTG actually, I just can't bear myself to click on that site anymore.

Productivity

Is it just me or has TPG turned into a bunch of whinges when Brian/other writers have a minor bad experience?

Equipment downgrade, bumped out of first class. Write an article about how much United sucks.

AA reward ticket fails to ticket (for a ridiculously stupid redemption), write an article about how AA sucks.

I'm not remotely sure how either of these are anything more than a personal whinge session.

kellio33

That's exactly what FT is all about. No difference except choice of bulletin board with outdated technology and a blog.